Just a a few hyper-reflexive ramblings on the point of vlogging in the transhuman assemblage - on the very auspicious occasion of the final day of my final week of full time work!
I’ve decided to use @anomadsoul’s competition to push me into starting a vlog, which is something that’s on my 2018 to do list, but now starting a few months sooner than originally planned; so this may be something of a pre-vlog… to be rekindled in August.
Quite a simple first vlog covering....
- Three reasons for my starting a vlog...
- Overcoming the fear of starting a vlog
- What can/ should I actually vlog about?
- Who are my audience?
- What should my ‘vlogging style’ be?
- Final reflections on vlogging, the self and truth….
Cheers!
My video is at DLive
Detailed text...
So I’ve decided to use @anomadsoul’s competition to push me into starting a vlog, which is something that’s on my 2018 to do list, but now starting a few months sooner than originally planned; so this may be something of a pre-vlog… to be rekindled in August.
Three reasons for starting a vlog
There are at least three reasons for my starting a vlog (and actually starting one earlier than intended):
- Firstly, I’ll be earning my money from solely online sources from August and am well aware that video is the way forward for maintaining visibility and driving traffic and hence income my way. Basically I need to get used to getting my face online.
- Secondly, it builds trust - I think people like to be able to put a face to the person behind all the information. It’s also like outing yourself as a human on the blockchain.
- Thirdly, it’s quite an efficient way of brainstorming new ideas - I know that most people aren’t going to watch anything for longer than 3 minutes, so I have to keep these short (I couldn’t maintain this fake enthusiasm for longer than that anyway)
Overcoming the fear of starting a vlog
This isn’t my comfort zone, (but then again I’m not that far out of it either), and I know I’m far from the only person whose reticent about vlogging, rather than mere blogging: all you have to do is trawl FaceBook (obviously as a research object, rather than something I’d recommend using) to realise that photos are so much more common than videos.
However, there is something a little irrational about this fear of video: after all, I’m only projecting (maybe with the addition of a little injection of enthuse) what other people already see. In other words: no need to feel sorry for me, I’m used to this face.
What can/ should I actually vlog about?
The obvious answer for me is to produce videos related to A-level sociology, and I think DLive might be a suitable platform for live streaming exam-preparation videos, linked to my main blog over at revisesociology.com, and maybe live Q n A videos, although I’m not sure if people who haven’t signed up for steemit can ask me Qs on the platform?
I might also do a few sociology vodcasts and maybe a few rants.
I’d also quite like to vlog about allotments/ growing your own: I’ve always thought a weekly video is the perfect format for documenting this, however, I’m not sure whether it’s a good idea to fuse academic/ professional vlogging with more personal stuff?
What should my ‘vlogging style’ be?
I wonder how many new vloggers actually gve this any consideration, rather than just ‘adopt’ a ‘Zoella’ personality’...
Thankfully, I simply don’t have that vibe, so I’m pretty much left with this ‘old man’ face to camera or ‘talk over a screen’ format, which is at least authentic, or is it?
Final reflections on vlogging, the self and truth….
I guess the simple truth is that what you’re going to see of me in vlogging is a particular ‘performative dynamic’ - it’s not quite the same as I ‘act’ when I’m with other people. Then again, at least according to Erving Goffman, there is no inherent sense of self, just performances, just a series of interactions in which actors put on different masks, so from this perspective, this is no more ‘fake’ than any other of the performances I act in my offline world….
Think I’ll leave it there, I’m well over my time limit!